Cory's Personal Scenes

Ah movie night, Cory’s favorite night of the week. Every Saturday, Cory and his boyfriend Howie went over to their friends’ Mina and Esther’s place to watch a whole slew of movies. It always followed a formula, comedy, horror, then romance. They were watching movies from the 90s, starting with Watchog Day, then Silence of the Mareep, and finally, finishing with S.S. Annetanic. Mina and Esther had already fallen asleep as Cory and Howie were determined to finish the movie, the gentle glow of the screen making Howie’s eyes glimmer in a way that Cory just couldn’t handle. As they were cuddling, Cory began to run his thumb over the back of Howie’s hand, just wanting to physically feel the touch of his hands. Sleepily, Cory asked a question as he began to play with Howie’s hair.

“Hey Babe?” he asked as he looked down at Howie. ‘Wow this boy is cute’ he thought.

“Mmmmh?” came the response.

“How’d ya feel about seeing the world?”

“Mmm.”

“So… is that a yes or a no?” he asked.

“Itssssa mmm” answered Howie with a dismissive wave of the hand, wanting to finish the movie or sleep, Cory wasn’t sure. He decided to drop the subject for now and just enjoy the movie. Or pass out, who knows.



“Hey Howie!” Cory said while making dinner.

“Yeah what’s up?” came the reply from the couch. They always watched their show while eating dinner, and right now they were watching PokeQuiz, a program from Sinnoh.

“Soo…. How would you feel about travelling the world?” Cory asked, admittedly a little nervous. A pause came in response.

“Oh you were serious about that?”

“I mean… yeah! Why wouldn’t I be? All of these things we see on tv and the internet we could see in person!”

“Well… How long would we do it?” Howie asked, uncertain.

“I don’t know. It’d be a journey! Time restraint isn’t really important,” Cory answered.

“But we have everything we need here.”

“Well yeah but it’s not about necessity, it’s about experiences! I don’t want to be stuck on this island for my entire life, it’s got like two towns and a forest.”

“Ok but we can take vacations…”

“Yeah but we can’t do enough in just a few days!”

“Ok well I’m not going to just drop everything and go on a journey,” Howie said sternly.

“Come on! This is something I’ve been wanting to do forever,” Cory pleaded.

“I don’t care, I’m not gonna just go on a journey! Not with you not with anyone!”

“Well I’m going to go on a journey whether you come or not!”

“Well I guess it’s good for you that you don’t seem to care if I coming since I’m not going to!” Howie yelled back, and they both just stood there while upset.

“Maybe we should cool off and go to bed…” Cory said in a small voice.

“...Yeah, that’s probably best,” came the reply. The two ate dinner separately and got ready for bed in silence. They went to bed, trying to put what just happened behind them.



“So… you’re really going?”

“Well… yes. I need to, I just can’t stay here for my entire life,” Cory answered. They both stood there. Neither knew how to proceed. There was awkwardness, so much needed to be said. And yet, neither of them could say it.

“Well… I need to board my flight,” Cory said.

“Yeah… It’s just… Cory?”

“Yeah?”

“I love you.” Cory’s chest dropped to his gut. This felt terrible.

“I love you too,” Cory said as he kissed Howie’s forehead.

“Goodbye Howie,” he said. The entire goodbye was awkward and sad. Cory spent 3 years of his life with Howie and now it was over. But at least that came with a new beginning. He turned away and went into the airport, tears welling up in his eyes. Cory did his best to wipe them away. He wasn’t going to cry in public. Worst case scenario he would go into the stall and weep his eyes out if necessary. But for now, he just tried his best to look forward to the future. The only problem is that the future was never less certain for him.